Abstract
Determination of crop evapotranspiration (ETc) and root zone soil-water dynamics/distribution coupled with nitrogen (N) management strategies is important for effective management of agricultural fields for enhancing production efficiency. However, limited data and knowledge exist that sufficiently inform how soil-water dynamics and ETc response may vary with coupled irrigation levels and different N application timings under different irrigation methods. Extensive field experiments were conducted in 2016 and 2017 under center pivot (CP), subsurface drip irrigation (SDI), and furrow irrigation (FI) at full irrigation treatment (FIT), 80% FIT, 60% FIT, and rainfed treatment (RFT) with N application timing treatments of traditional N (TN), non-traditional-1 (NT-1), and non-traditional-2 (NT-2) to quantify and compare seasonal maize (Zea mays L.) grain yield, soil-water dynamics, ETc, and ETc vs. seasonal irrigation and total water supply relationships. Soil-water status and plant water extraction exhibited substantial differences between the irrigation levels and N management and with the irrigation methods. Irrigation method significantly (p < 0.05) influenced ETc. CP had significantly higher ETc than SDI; and SDI had significantly higher ETc than FI. The NT-1 and NT-2 treatments had significantly higher ETc than TN. ETc was greatly influenced by the water availability more than N timing applications. The slope of maize ETc exhibited inter-annual and intra-annual variation between N treatments, irrigation methods, and years. CP had higher slope than FI and SDI and FI had higher slope than SDI under traditional and NT N management in both years (except NT-2 at SDI in 2017). These important findings can provide guidance to improve maize production efficiency by considering the coupled irrigation and N management strategies under different irrigation methods.
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